A highly selective preview of cultural events taking place this weekend in the greater Hudson Valley region, including three pianists improvising on the classics; an orchestra performing romantic, modern, and contemporary works; a chamber group celebrating the first family of Baroque music; the return of a hometown jazz-soul-world music ensemble, and a whole lot more…
Lady Moon
LADY MOON & THE ECLIPSE BRING JAZZY SOUL to HELSINKI HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – With roots right here in Hudson, jazzy soul-funk outfit Lady Moon & the Eclipse returns to Club Helsinki Hudson on Friday, March 18, at 9pm, to preview songs from their debut EP, “Believe,” due out this spring. Lady Moon & the Eclipse is a multicultural seven-piece band based in Brooklyn, N.Y. Led by lead singer Ngonda Badila – whose name means “moon” in Congolese – aka Lady Moon, the band includes her two sisters, Ntangou and Nkoula. The three of them grew up in a creative, artistic, and very musical family in Hudson, where they were well known and beloved by the community. The music of Lady Moon & the Eclipse is a blend of R&B and Afrobeat-influenced rhythms, and their songs address social issues.
Tanya Gabrielian
THREE PIANISTS IMPROVISE on BACH, SCHUBERT, and GERSHWIN at BARD
(ANNANDALE-on-HUDSON, N.Y.) – Classical pianist Tanya Gabrielian and jazz pianist Chris Pattishall join virtuoso André Mehmari on double piano in the world premiere of “Improv Cubed: From Bach to the Great American Songbook,” a musical journey spanning 300 years and featuring variations on works by Bach, Scarlatti, Schubert, and music from ragtime, Brazilian choro, and the so-called Great American Songbook, in the LUMA Theater in the Fisher Center at Bard College on Saturday, March 19, at 8pm.
Composer John Estacio
(POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.) – The Hudson Valley Philharmonic will perform works by Stravinsky, Brahms, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon, and the East Coast premiere of “Borealis” by John Estacio, featuring projected images of the Northern Lights by José Francisco Salgado, at the Bardavon on Saturday, March 19, at 8pm.
ACRONYM Ensemble
CHAMBER CONCERT CELEBRATES MUSICAL BACH FAMILY
(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – Works by or associated with the illustrious Bach family will be featured in “J.S. Bach and Sons — Legitimate and Otherwise,” at the Mahaiwe on Saturday, March 19, at 6pm, in a chamber concert in the Close Encounters With Music series. The program includes music by Johann Sebastian Bach’s uncle Heinrich and his sons Johann Christoph Friedrich, Wilhelm Friedemann, and Carl Philipp Emanuel, his “illegitimate” son P.D.Q. Bach aka Peter Schickele, and the master himself, in a rendition of “Brandenburg Concerto” No. 3 as performed by ACRONYM, a self-described 12-piece Baroque “string band.”